loading…
Mohammed al-Zouari creates combat drones for Hamas fighters. Photo/AJA
TUNIS – The mention of Mohammed Zouari by Hamas officials after the launch of Operation Al-Aqsa Storm has added intrigue to the story.
Mohammed al-Zouari is credited with giving Hamas’ military wing, the Izzudin al-Qassam Brigades, the technological know-how to create their first combat-worthy attack drone.
His name has now emerged again after the Palestinian Resistance announced the use of a drone called ‘Zouari’ as part of their attack on Israel.
Mohammed al-Zouari’s role in aiding Hamas’ armed wing, the Al Qassam Brigades, was not publicly known until his assassination in 2016.
Although the armed team that killed al-Zouari was never caught, his death is widely attributed to the work of the Israeli Mossad accused of killing him on Tunisian soil.
After his death, al-Zouari became an iconic figure throughout Palestine and the Arab world, but his story is little known in the West.
A Tunisian by birth, Mohammed al-Zouari was born in 1967 and grew up in a conservative Muslim family.
He completed religious and formal education, before graduating from the ‘National School of Engineers’ in the city of Sfax.
Working in a number of Arab countries, al-Zouari achieved status as a university professor, became a technical director at a mechanical engineering company, a pilot for a Tunisian airline, and even became head of the ‘Southern Aviation Model Club’ where he trained on how to build drones with limited materials.
In his youth, al-Zouari joined the Ennahda Movement, through his role as an activist in the ‘General Union of Tunisian Students,’ which resulted in persecution from the regime of President Zaenal Abidine Ben Ali.